Table of Contents

This study is provided by ICPSR.
ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis
for a diverse and expanding social science research community.

Transatlantic Trends: Immigration, 2011 (ICPSR 34423)

Principal Investigator(s):
Ziebarth, Astrid, German Marshall Fund of the United States;
Bernstein, Hamutal, German Marshall Fund of the United States;
Nyiri, Zsolt, German Marshall Fund of the United States;
Isernia, Pierangelo, University of Siena (Italy);
Diehl, Claudia, University of Goettingen (Germany);
Martin, Susan, Georgetown University

Summary:

The aim of the Transatlantic Trends Survey is to identify the attitudes of the public in the United States and European countries towards foreign policy issues and transatlantic issues. Transatlantic Trends: Immigration, a special topic public opinion survey conducted yearly since 2008, is a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. For 2011, the Immigration survey examined attitudes and policy preferences related to immigration in France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This collection focused on respondent perceptions of legal and illegal immigrants, conditions for admittance of immigrants, level of support for policies to reduce immigration, preconditions for citizenship, and whether or not immigration enriched society. Respondents were asked to identify the most important issues facing their country, to evaluate their government's performance in managing immigration and the economy, whether immigration presented a national opportunity or a problem, and whether they believed immigrants were integrating well into society. Additional topics included the developments in North Africa and the Middle East, responsibility for displaced refugees coming from North Africa, and whether the respondent's nation should offer economic aid to countries committed to democracy. Lastly, respondents were asked about which political party they identified with, their voting intentions in the next national election, and whether political party agendas would influence their vote. Demographic and other background information includes gender, age, stage at which full-time education was completed, age when stopped full-time education, employment status, ethnic background, country of birth, citizenship, parents' citizenship status, type of phone line, ownership of a mobile phone, and the number of people in their household.

The aim of the Transatlantic Trends Survey is to identify the attitudes of the public in the United States and European countries towards foreign policy issues and transatlantic issues. Transatlantic Trends: Immigration, a special topic public opinion survey conducted yearly since 2008, is a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. For 2011, the Immigration survey examined attitudes and policy preferences related to immigration in France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This collection focused on respondent perceptions of legal and illegal immigrants, conditions for admittance of immigrants, level of support for policies to reduce immigration, preconditions for citizenship, and whether or not immigration enriched society. Respondents were asked to identify the most important issues facing their country, to evaluate their government's performance in managing immigration and the economy, whether immigration presented a national opportunity or a problem, and whether they believed immigrants were integrating well into society. Additional topics included the developments in North Africa and the Middle East, responsibility for displaced refugees coming from North Africa, and whether the respondent's nation should offer economic aid to countries committed to democracy. Lastly, respondents were asked about which political party they identified with, their voting intentions in the next national election, and whether political party agendas would influence their vote. Demographic and other background information includes gender, age, stage at which full-time education was completed, age when stopped full-time education, employment status, ethnic background, country of birth, citizenship, parents' citizenship status, type of phone line, ownership of a mobile phone, and the number of people in their household.

Universe:
The adult population (aged 18 years and over) with access to landline telephone in six countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland), and the United States. In Italy, Spain, and the United States twenty percent of the sample was, moreover, contacted on mobile phones.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The original data collection was carried out by TNS, Fait et Opinion - Brussels, on request of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The codebook and setup files for this collection contain characters with diacritical marks used in many European languages.

Methodology

Sample:
The basic sample design applied in all states is multi-stage random (probability). In each household, the respondent was drawn at random (following the "closest birthday rule"). Up to 5 call-backs for telephone interviews and 4 visits in total for face-to-face interviews were attempted before dropping a potential respondent. Twenty percent of the sample in the USA, Italy, and Spain was contacted through mobile phone instead of landline. Only fixed telephone lines are included in the other cases.

Time Method:
Cross-sectional

Weight:
Please refer to the "Technical Information" section in the Original P.I. Documentation within the ICPSR codebook for further information about weighting.

Mode of Data Collection:
computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)

Response Rates:
The total response rate for all countries surveyed is 8 percent. Please refer to the "Technical Information" section in the Original P.I. Documentation within the ICPSR codebook for additional information about response rates.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: